Saturday, January 09, 2010

As the day wore on, word had spread around the island that a local hunter had killed a mountain lion at Polihale.

Or did he shoot a cougar at Koke‘e? Did he really skin a puma in Waimea Canyon?

Not exactly, according to Kaua‘i wildlife manager Thomas Kaiakapu of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Forestry and Wildlife.

By Thursday afternoon, his phone was ringing off the hook with calls about the big kill. This, of course, would be big news on the Garden Isle because there are no big cats here — aside from a few feral felines in the alley.

Kaiakapu confirmed that a local hunter had indeed killed a cougar, but the legal hunt went down in Arizona. The excited hunter sent a picture message on his phone to family members back home and from there the rumor mill got to work with each forward.